


Strawberry Season

by changdori (janie6789)



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Crack, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-15 12:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3447713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie6789/pseuds/changdori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jung Yunho. Shim Changmin. Strawberry farm. Need I say more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Changmin is not at all sure about this overly innocent looking farm boy sitting across from his wooden desk. He tends to like workers who are serious, and can get the job done. In his experience, he knows that if someone is too smiley, they don't tend to take work as seriously.

That's part of the reason why Changmin doesn't often smile.

But the curly headed kitten-like boy in a cotton farmer's shirt with and loose jeans is nothing but the brightest smiles, and has been since he walked through the doors of the small cabin-turned-office. And when his eyes fold into half-moons and freaking sunshine and rainbows radiate from his face even while Changmin is glaring at him is when Changmin decides, even before he begins the interview, "No."

The smile immediately disappears, and now the kitten turns into freaking Puss In Boots. Changmin swears it doesn't make sense, because the boy (Changmin keeps calling him a boy in his head, but in reality, he's probably the same age as Changmin, if not maybe even a bit older) seems like he has small eyes, but they're also inexplicably large, especially as hurt fills them.

"But – But you haven't even started the interview, I –"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jung," snaps Changmin, forcing himself not to give in. "I –"

"You can call me Yunho."

"No," snaps Changmin again. No, they are not on first-name terms, not when Changmin is never going to see this guy again. "I don't think you'll fit in here."

Then Yunho _pouts_.

_He literally pouts._

His bottom lip sticks out and the forehead scrunches up, and he hangs his head until all Changmin can see is the top of his messy hair.

"Dear God," mutters Changmin, rolling his eyes. "Mr. Jung –"

"Can you please just call me Yunho."

"No," repeats Changmin. "I guess you need a job, so I'll put in a word for you at the apple orchard twenty minutes away. I think you'll fit in better there. I know the guy that runs it and I think he will like you."

"But this is my dream," begs the puppy. Or the kitty. Changmin can't even decide anymore. "I really want to work here. Please, Changmin?"

"It's Mr. Shim," grunts Changmin. "And I have other things to do now, so you're going to have to leave."

Yunho really looks like a kicked puppy now.

"All… All right. I don't… I don't want to bother you…" sighs Yunho. "Bye… Let me know if you change your mind."

Okay. 100% puppy.

"I won't," says Changmin firmly. "Goodbye. Don't forget to close the door behind you."

Changmin watches as Yunho stands slowly, completely dejected, as if he has lost the entire world.

His feet drag on the floor, and his shoulders slouch and his head is hung.

He opens the door and steps out reluctantly, and on his way out, he shoots a longing look at the rows upon rows of strawberry bushes.

Just before the door closes, the phone on his desk rings, and Changmin looks at it warily.

He knows who it is before he even picks up, and he considers letting it ring out, but he just sighs and picks it up.

"Hello, Shim's Strawberry Farm."

"Changmin, it's dad."

"I know," says Changmin with a sigh. He's starting to get a headache already.

"How are things there?"

"I hate it," responds Changmin right away. The door closes behind Yunho, and through the window, he can see Yunho walking along the dirt path now, so slowly that a – he doesn't know, what's the slowest animal? – could surpass him. "Take me back to Seoul, dad, _please_."

"You're only there for a week!" exclaims his father. "All you need to do is the hiring! No, not even the hiring, you just have to sign the papers, that's all you have to do! The sooner you get it done, the sooner you can come home!"

Changmin rolls his eyes. "It's not that easy."

His father sighs. "Son, it's strawberry picking. It's not like you need incredible qualifications to be a strawberry picker."

"Dad. It's still my farm, I don't want to just hire _anyone_! What if they slack off and the strawberries go bad because they can't finish the work on time?"

His father is silent on the other end, and Changmin knows that his father thinks he's the most incompetent thing ever. "Have you considered the time you're wasting trying to find the perfect candidate?"

Changmin's mouth drops open silently.

"Just hire someone," says his father, exasperated. "And then come home."

The phone clicks and his father's hung up.

Changmin rolls his eyes and looks out the window.

That country boy-puppy hybrid thing hasn't made it very far.

_Just hire someone, Changmin._

Changmin sighs and gets up from behind his desk, and reluctantly. And then he pulls open the door, and his pristine shoes finally touch the dirt road. He doesn't have to walk far to catch up with Yunho.

"Hey – Hey! Mr. Jung!"

"It's Yunho," he corrects sadly, barely turning his head to look at Changmin.

"Okay. Yunho, Mr. Jung, whatever," says Changmin, waving the unimportance away. "I've changed my mind."

Yunho's droopy shoulders suddenly perk up, and he opens his eyes wide. "About what?"

"You're hired," declares Changmin.

"Are you serious?"

"Don't question me or I'll change my mind," says Changmin. "Come back in and sign the papers. You can start today."

Yunho positively squeals. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he exclaims, and the he _hugs_ Changmin so hard that the air is knocked from Changmin's lungs. Changmin winces and struggles to spit out the bits of hay that made their way into Changmin's mouth from Yunho's shirt. Changmin struggles in Yunho's embrace, and only barely manages to push him away before his ribs are broken.

And fuck, sunshine and rainbows are oozing out of Yunho's face again, and _fuck_ , he was a kitty after all.


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay. Follow me," says Changmin, motioning for Yunho to follow him into the field. Changmin steps out of the office for the first time today. The sun splashes onto his face, but it's the rays coming from Yunho's beaming face that's really bothering him.

Yunho stands there in front of the vast strawberry field, and Changmin thinks that he probably needs to hire a couple more people for the work to get finished. Changmin sighs.

"All right," says Changmin, and he personally goes around to the back to get out two crates for Yunho. _Actually_ got his fingers dirty and everything. "Howe we usually do it is, we pick the ripe strawberries into one crate and the unripe ones in the other. That way we can sell the ripe ones locally and the unripe ones can be sold further away, although..." Changmin looks around at the field. "I don't think we'll have enough strawberries to do that this year."

"Oh," says Yunho, looking genuinely concerned. "That's too bad."

Changmin shrugs. "It happens." He then looks at Yunho. "If you want to make your own system, go ahead. As long as you're efficient."

"Sure," says Yunho. His face has lit up again at the mention of getting at strawberries, and his voice almost shakes in excitement. "Hey, Changmin, did you know, when I was a kid –"

"I'm not interested, actually," says Changmin, "And it's Mr. Shim."

Yunho pouts again. "You're so mean."

"I gave you the job," reminds Changmin, but a small pang of hurt digging into his heart.

"That's true," says Yunho, and the kitten smile is back. "This is my dream come true. Every year, I'd been wanting to work at your strawberry farm, and I hadn't been able to, because I was helping out at my parents' farm."

Changmin raises his eyebrows. "Why aren't you working for them this year?"

"Because I have to work here," declares Yunho decisively. "Have to."

Changmin is starting to get just a little bit freaked out. "O – kay," he says. "Uh – I'll be in the office if you need me."

Yunho smiles and waves at him before practically running at the strawberry field with the crates in his arms.

 

 

Changmin forgets about Yunho for the whole day, and stays in his office. Really, though, he needed to see just how many strawberries they'll have to do any real work, and for that, he'll need to see how many strawberries Yunho has picked at the end of the day.

It wasn't the best year for strawberries, but not horrible, either. But it's still hard to estimate, so Changmin isn't going to do anything today.

At least that's what he tells himself as he lies on the couch, watching TV the whole day.

He has half a mind to check on Yunho, but from what he can see from his window, Yunho hasn't left the field or anything, so Changmin figures that he's doing fine, at least until it's getting pretty chilly and the sun's about to set, and Changmin realizes that Yunho hasn't eaten all day.

So Changmin contemplates whether he should treat Yunho to dinner, since he did forget to give Yunho his lunch break, and maybe they can get to know each other, if only a little bit. Plus Changmin feels a little bit bad for how curt he was with Yunho. If he'd known that Yunho was such a hard worker, he wouldn't have been so mean.

Changmin picks up the phone, and makes an unnecessary reservation for two at a restaurant at the nearest place that resembles civilization before stepping out and calling for Yunho to stop.

 

 

The amount of strawberries that Yunho picked is impossible.

Impossibly little.

Changmin can't believe how little he picked.

"What's going on," says Changmin, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes.

Yunho looks up at him innocently, albeit a bit nervously. "W-What do you mean?"

"How come you worked for the whole day and you only have two and a half crates of strawberries picked?"

Yunho swallows and licks the front of his teeth with his tongue under his closed lips. "Um…"

Changmin frowns. "I know it wasn't the best year for crop, but I know it wasn't this bad."

"Ummm…"

"Show me," says Changmin, pointing at the strawberry field. "Show me how much you did."

Changmin knows that one row of strawberries comes to about three crates, and there is no way that Yunho, a young, strong guy, could only get done one row of strawberry today. His men average six rows a day.

"Um," says Yunho. He walks to a corner of the field, the one where he started from. He then eyes Changmin. "So… I started at this corner, and then I kind of went… like… diagonally that way first, and then I made a turn because there were nice bushes on that side, so I went – that way, and I ended up doing, like… a reverse 'S'…"

Changmin's eyes widen.

"Mr. Jung, are you telling me that you didn't do this row by row, but you just randomly walked around choosing bushes you wanted to pick from?"

"Um."

There is a long silence as Yunho shuffles his feet, and Changmin stares him down.

Then Yunho finally looks up at Changmin and clears his throat.

"Um… it's Yunho."

Changmin almost falls to the ground with his hands in his hair in exasperation.


End file.
